Peerage

The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system. The term is used both collectively to refer to the entire body of noble titles (or a subdivision thereof), and individually to refer to a specific title (and generally has an initial capital in the former case and not the latter). The holder of a peerage is termed a peer.

In modern practice, no new hereditary peerages are created (except for members of the Royal Family), but only life peerages which carry the personal right to sit and vote in the House of Lords. Peerages, like all modern British honours, are created by the British monarch, taking effect when letters patent are affixed with the Great Seal of the Realm. Her Majesty's Government advises the Sovereign on a new peerage, under a process which scrutinises appointments to political honours. Currently a few hereditary peers, who are elected to represent the others, also retain the right to sit and vote in the House of Lords.

The Sovereign is considered the fount of honour, and as "the fountain and source of all dignities cannot hold a dignity from himself", cannot hold a peerage (although the British Sovereign uses the style "Duke of Lancaster"). If an individual is neither the Sovereign nor a peer, he is a commoner. Members of a peer's family who are not themselves peers (including such members of the Royal Family) are also commoners; the British system thus differs fundamentally from continental European ones, where entire families, rather than individuals, were ennobled.

Certain personal privileges are afforded to all peers and peeresses, but the main distinction of a peerage nowadays is the style or title and traditional forms of address. The claim to an existing hereditary peerage is regulated by the House of Lords through its Committee for Privileges and Conduct.

Baronage renamed

The modern peerage system is a continuation and renaming of the Baronage which existed in feudal times. The requirement of attending Parliament was at once a liability and a privilege for those who held land as a tenant-in-chief of the king per baroniam, that is to say under the feudal contract of being one of the king's barons, responsible for raising knights and troops for the royal feudal army. Certain other classes such as the higher clerics and freemen of the Cinque Ports were deemed barons. This right, entitlement or "title", began to be granted by decree in the form of the writ of summons from 1265 and by letters patent from 1388, and the barony started to become personal rather than territorial. Feudal baronies had always been hereditable by an eldest son under primogeniture, but on condition of payment of a fine termed "relief", derived from the Latin verb levo to lift up, meaning a "re-elevation" to a former position of honour. Baronies and other titles of nobility became unconditionally hereditable on the abolition of feudal tenure by the Tenures Abolition Act of 1660 and non-hereditable titles began to be created in 1867 for law lords, and in 1958 for life peers.

Divisions of the Peerage

The various divisions of the Peerage are:

The Peerage of England — all titles created by the Kings and Queens of England before the Act of Union in 1707.

The Peerage of Scotland — all titles created by the Kings and Queens of Scotland before 1707.

The Peerage of Ireland — titles created for the Kingdom of Ireland before the Act of Union of 1801, and some titles created later.

The Peerage of Great Britain — titles created for the Kingdom of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801.

The Peerage of the United Kingdom — most titles created since 1801.

Ranks

Peers are of five ranks, in descending order of hierarchy:

Duke comes from the Latin dux, leader. Created in 1337. Marquess comes from the French marquis, which is a derivative of marche or march. This is a reference to the borders ("marches") between England, Scotland and Wales, a relationship more evident in the feminine form: Marchioness. Created in 1385. pending any reform of the membership to the House. Standing Order 9 provides that those exempted are 75 hereditary peers elected by other peers from and by respective party groups in the House in proportion to their numbers, and fifteen chosen by the whole House to serve as officers of the House. Some hereditary titles can pass through and vest in female heirs in a system called coparcenary.

Representative peers

From 1707 until 1963 Scottish peers elected 16 representative peers to sit in the House of Lords. Since 1963 they have had the same rights as Peers of the United Kingdom. From 1801 until 1922 Irish peers elected 28 representative peers to sit in the House of Lords. In 1922 the Irish Free State became a separate country.

Life peers

The Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 and the Life Peerages Act 1958 authorise the regular creation of life peerages. Life peers created under both acts are of baronial rank and are always created under letters patent.

Until the formal opening of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on 1 October 2009, life peers created under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act were known as "Lords of Appeal in Ordinary" or in common parlance "Law Lords". They performed the judicial functions of the House of Lords and served on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. They remained peers for life, but ceased to receive judicial salaries at the age of 75. Under the terms of the Act, there may be no more than 12 Lords of Appeal in Ordinary under the age of 75 at one time. However, after the transfer of the judicial functions of the Lords to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the Act ceased to have meaningful effect (although all members but one of the Court are former Law Lords and hold peerages).

There is no limit on the number of peerages the Sovereign may create under the Life Peerages Act. Normally life peerages are granted to individuals nominated by political parties or by the House of Lords Appointments Commission, and to honour important public figures such as the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Prime Minister on their retirement.

There is currently no recognised way for a life peer to leave the upper House permanently and voluntarily.

Styles and titles

:Main articles: Forms of address in the United Kingdom, Courtesy title

Dukes use His Grace, Marquesses use The Most Honourable and other peers use The Right Honourable. Peeresses (whether they hold peerages in their own right or are wives of peers) use equivalent styles.

In speech, any peer or peeress except a Duke or Duchess is referred to as Lord X or Lady X. The exception is a suo jure Baroness (that is, one holding the dignity in her own right, usually a life peeress), who may also be called Baroness X in normal speech, though Lady X is also common usage. Hence, the Baroness Thatcher, a suo jure life peeress, may be referred to as either "Baroness Thatcher" or "Lady Thatcher". "Baroness" is incorrect for female holders of Scottish Lordships of Parliament, who are not Baronesses; for example, the 21st Lady Saltoun is known as "Lady Saltoun", not "Baroness Saltoun".

A peer is referred to by his peerage even if it is the same as his surname, thus the Baron Owen is "Lord Owen" not "Lord David Owen", though such incorrect forms are commonly used.

Some peers, particularly life peers who were well-known before their ennoblement, do not use their peerage titles. Others use a combination: for example, the author John Julius Norwich is John Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich.

Individuals who use the style Lord or Lady are not necessarily peers. Children of peers use special titles called courtesy titles. The heir apparent of a duke, a marquess, or an earl generally uses his father's highest lesser peerage dignity as his own. Hence, the Duke of Devonshire's son is called Marquess of Hartington. Such an heir apparent is called a courtesy peer, but is a commoner until such time as he inherits (unless summoned by a writ in acceleration).

Younger sons of dukes and marquesses prefix Lord to their first names as courtesy titles while daughters of dukes, marquesses and earls use Lady. Younger sons of earls and children of viscounts, barons and lords of Parliament use The Honourable.

Privilege of Peerage

The privilege of peerage is the body of privileges that belongs to peers, their wives and their unremarried widows. The privilege is distinct from parliamentary privilege, and applies to all peers, not just members of the House of Lords. It still exists, although "occasions of its exercise have now diminished into obscurity."

Although the extent of the privilege has been ill-defined, three features survived to the 20th century: The right to be tried by fellow peers in the Lord High Steward's Court and in the House of Lords (abolished in 1948); the personal right of access to the Sovereign at any time, but this privilege has long been obsolete; and the right to be exempt from civil arrest (a privilege has been used only twice since 1945). All privilege of peerage is lost if a peer disclaims his or her peerage under the Peerage Act 1963

History

When William of Normandy conquered England, he divided the nation into many "manors", the owners of which came to be known as barons; those who held many manors were known as "greater barons", while those with fewer manors were the "lesser barons". When Kings summoned their barons to Royal Councils, the greater barons were summoned individually by the Sovereign, lesser barons through sheriffs. In 1254, the lesser barons ceased to be summoned, and the body of greater barons evolved into the House of Lords. Since the Crown was itself a hereditary dignity, it seemed natural for seats in the upper House of Parliament to be so as well. By the beginning of the 14th century, the hereditary characteristics of the Peerage were well developed. The first peer to be created by patent was Lord Beauchamp of Holt in the reign of Richard II.

The ranks of baron and earl date to feudal, and perhaps Anglo-Saxon, times. The ranks of duke and marquess were introduced in the 14th century, and that of viscount in the 15th century. While life peerages were often created in the early days of the Peerage, their regular creation was not provided for by Act of Parliament until the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876.

Counterparts

Other feudal monarchies equally had a similar system, grouping high nobility of different rank titles under one term, with common privileges and/or in an assembly, sometimes legislative and/or judicial.

Itō Hirobumi and the other Meiji leaders deliberately modeled the Japanese House of Peers on the House of Lords, as a counterweight to the popularly elected House of Representatives (Shūgiin).

In France, the system of pairies (peerage) existed in two different versions: the exclusive 'old' in the French kingdom, in many respects an inspiration for the English/British practice, and the very prolific chambre des pairs of the Bourbon Restoration (1814–1848).

In Spain and Portugal, the closest equivalent title was grandee; in Hungary, magnate.

In the Holy Roman Empire, instead of an exclusive aristocratic assembly, the imperial Diet, the Reichstag, was the highest organ, membership of which, expressed by the title Reichsfürst, was granted to all major princes, and various minor ones, princes of the church (parallel to the Lords spiritual) and in some cases restricted to a collective 'curiate' vote in a 'bench', such as the Grafenbank.

In the medieval Irish nobility, Gaelic nobles were those presented with the White Wand or slat in a formal ceremony, and presented it by another noble. It was the primary symbol of lordship and effectively reserved only for the three tiers of kings (provincial, regional, local) and for those princely and comital families descending from them in control of significant territories. The total number was between 100 and 150 at any time.

See also

List of courtesy titles in the Peerages of the British Isles

Aristocracy

Baronies created by error

British honours system

British nobility

Cash for Honours

False titles of nobility

Forms of address in the United Kingdom

History of the Peerage

House of Lords

Landed gentry

List of Irish representative peers

List of Law Life Peerages (Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876)

List of Life Peerages (Life Peerages Act, 1958)

List of spiritual peers

Peerage of England

Peerage of Ireland

Peerage of Scotland

Substantive title

Upper class

Welsh peers

References

Blackstone, W. (1765). Commentaries on the Laws of England. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Bush, Michael L. The English Aristocracy: a Comparative Synthesis. Manchester University Press, 1984. Concise comparative historical treatment.

New Zealand Universities Law Review. (Vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 379–401).">Cox, N. (1997). "The British Peerage: The Legal Standing of the Peerage and Baronetage in the overseas realms of the Crown with particular reference to New Zealand." New Zealand Universities Law Review. (Vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 379–401).

Farnborough, T. E. May, 1st Baron. (1896). Constitutional History of England since the Accession of George the Third, 11th ed. London: Longmans, Green and Co.

Heraldica.org on the French peerage

Hilfswörterbuch für Historiker (in German)

Paul, James Balfour (ed.). The Scots Peerage Founded on . . . Sir Robert Douglas’s Peerage of Scotland. 9v. Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1904-14.

"Peerage." (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. London: Cambridge University Press.

Peerage Act 1963. (1963 c. 48). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

Plowden. Alison. Lords of the Land. Michael Joseph, 1984.

Sanford, John Langton & Meredith Townsend. The Great Governing Families of England. 2v. Blackwood & Sons, 1865 (Books for Libraries Press, 1972).

External links

Burke's Peerage & Gentry

thePeerage.com

Genealogics.org

Fake titles